Mavs Betting On Brand

Elton Brand heading to Dallas Mavericks.

HoopsVibe’s Very Quick Call: Mark Cuban needs to get more than Brand to make a run at the Western Conference.

The Mavs had one of the worst attempts at defending their championship reign ever last year. They exited the playoffs in the first round and hardly even made a competition out of it. The Mavs lost J.J. Barea and Tyson Chandler last summer and any hope of repeating as Western Conference champs let alone NBA champs along with it.

This off-season they have continued to shed talent with Jason Terry heading to Boston and Jason Kidd heading to New York. The question has been raised if Mark Cuban is simply content with his one ring and wants to stop spending money on player’s salaries. The Mavs made their first move to actually get better in two years by acquiring Elton Brand from the Philadelphia 76ers this week.

Brand averaged 11 points per game and 7.2 rebounds per game for the 76ers in 2011-2012. Brand was the 1999 No. 1 overall draft by Chicago and 2000 Rookie of the Year. Dallas is hoping Brand can regain some of his old form and once again be a force in the frontcourt. They’d attempted this with Lamar Odom last season and got burnt by Odom’s apathy. Even if Brand turns out to be a great pickup for the Mavs, it’s overly optimistic to believe this will get them any deeper in the playoffs. The Mavs need serious backcourt help.